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The Essential Habit Entrepreneurs Need to be Prepared for Future Trends

This post will speak the loudest to those who identify as:

Early adopters

Futurists

Those who believe education and credential-seeking are definitely NOT the same thing

People who consider soft skills to be vital to professional effectiveness

Entrepreneurship has always been the backbone of America’s national and local economies.

As many of you may recognize, directional change has accelerated as the internet entered its 2.0, and now 3.0 phases. We no longer measure new trends and their speed of adoption in decades—rather, we speak of years, or in some instances, months!

If you are an entrepreneur, one of the five most important soft skills you must focus on is adaptability.

Those who resist, deny, or procrastinate on preparing for future waves of change in the business world will struggle as broad and deep trends continue to disrupt our businesses.

Additionally, for those who fully embrace the heart and soul of truly defined education, you will come to realize that a lifelong learning culture in your organization will go a long way towards your “adaptability quotient” being high enough to ride the waves and manage the flood tides.

5 Trends to Watch

Speaking as someone who is part futurist and part early adopter, I’ve been tracking trends in my educational consulting and advisory business for a long while. People deserve to be aware of what could be years away, let alone what might be right over the horizon.The five trends I have listed below promise to shake up huge chunks of today’s economies – and many jobs people rely on to support their families. But this list of five examples is far from all-inclusive. I’m not able to unpack these five, however, I encourage you to dive in to learn more – becoming self-educated. The ripples they are causing, or will cause, in the economic “pool” are profound!

The speeds at which the listed trends are accelerating will soon overwhelm any business that only knows how to capitalize on or defend against change by onboarding individuals who have conventional degrees/certifications.

Why?

Even the best institutions of primary/secondary (“K-12”) and “hire” * education will often struggle to keep pace. Our K-12 track in America began to assume its present form in the 1850’s, accelerating after the Civil War.

Our undergraduate institutions, with the possible exception of the Great Books and some liberal arts centric colleges, grew into their present form after the GI Bill in the mid 1940’s, nearly 80 years ago.

The super structures at the core of conventional education (‘schooling’) are often wound tightly in processes dictated by 3rd parties such as accreditation bodies and governmental agencies and their own internal hierarchy which disempowers many, leaving final decision-making in the hands of the few.

Three Proactive Steps to Drive Adaptability

Take inventory of yourself and your own entrepreneurial story/journey.Do you understand self-leadership and being an example to others?

This applies to the above trends and numerous others that are very likely to creatively disrupt many industries (e.g., banking, insurance, real estate, and health care).

Think way beyond hiring only W-2 style employees.

Freelancers, part-timers, and people with skills your business needs only periodically, or maybe only once, will keep your organization nimble and responsive to developing trends. You would be wise to use the term “staff” to reflect more appropriately the clear trends in our economy.

I recommend investing time to study this report published by Intuit, as a start.

Every business should make its own proprietary decision on what type of hires it will make.

However, please make no mistake: The 2020s and beyond won’t be driven by W-2 employment nearly to the degree we have experienced over the past 70+ years.

Thank you for reading. It’s an honor to serve you by sharing my specialized passions.

If I can be of assistance to you individually, please reach out via my bio. I would be excited to explore how we may be able to help each other.

Chances are, if you’re reading this post, you’re probably the founder of a startup, an established business owner, or a hobbyist who wants a cash flow positive entrepreneurial venture.

On the surface: You’ve likely heard so many different pieces of advice—from consultants, trainers, business coaches, or motivational speakers—that you might be overwhelmed & attempting to decide which approach best applies to you at this time. Or maybe you haven’t quite made it to where you want to be, even though you’ve already started to implement a strategy.

Then, how will this topic be of value all things considered?

Only you can decide. Discernment is a key soft skill, and my hope is that your business benefits in a big way! Let’s unpack how Culture, Vision, Strategy, and Tactics (CVST) fit into your business.

Culture.

Your company culture should be clearly defined and cultivated regularly. How much you focus on this input can make all the difference between being significant and successful versus running out of capital and struggling to retain your staff.

Vision.

Can you see well past the horizon and pinpoint possible challenges that may appear in your entrepreneurial path?

Instant gratification is the venom; vision is its antidote, & also a catalyst, to your business’ ultimate success in the marketplace. [Tweet this]

Strategy.

Maybe you’ve heard this, or a derivation of it, before today: “Goals in concrete; plans in sand.” Do you have a strategy, with its spine made up of short-, mid-, and long-term goals? Congratulations! You are in a great position to be significant.Tactics.

Your goals are the river; the plans are the tactical details, the streams, which steer your business in the best possible direction. Plans can & definitely will shift, as they aren’t anchored to terra firma and the business landscape changes by the minute.

So how does education, properly defined, play into CVST?

Educating Culture

Be the example! If you are in the independent workforce, you absolutely should be pursuing ongoing, life-long learning. There’s simply no excuse not to.

Second – Encourage your staff, current & future, to also self educate by taking steps to grow your business’ professional development budget. If you don’t have one yet, definitely create a line item as soon as possible.

Judge your staff not on their resumé credentials alone; offer them opportunities to get ahead, perhaps by filling open positions in your business after you’ve heard their stories of what they’ve learned through self-directed means (webinars, podcasts, books, etc.).

Educating Vision

Look at education through an extended lens. The Japanese have for many decades been far better than their American counterparts at this; yet, there’s no reason why you, a tech startup founder, a growing business, or a solopreneur, can’t follow their lead.

Don’t expect that your investment in yourself and your staff will immediately fix deep-seated issues as they relate to customer service, turnover, satisfaction, engagement, or the ability to fill open positions.

However, do know this: You will see improvement so long as you stay the course, even through the ebb and flow of business.

Educating Strategy

Set goals! Many of America’s most influential thought leaders have spoken out about how important it is to write down goals, instill small group and peer-to-peer accountability, and use PDCA (planning, doing, checking, and adjusting).

Goals can be a backbone, the beating heart, of your business strategy.

We have all heard this word from our earliest days as children; the drumbeat of how often it has arisen in conversation, in the written word, and even as a presumption, likely increased over time as we grew into adulthood.

Yet, have you ever defined success as a skill? What about as a soft skill?

Since education can be rightfully defined as the learning of information, paid forward to others, thereby having been re-learned along the way, we have now fused together what appears to be multiple different perspectives: Success, skill, education, and, lastly, how it affects you.

If you were to create a survey, or answer the questions on an existing one, how would you frame the questions below or provide an answers?

Is success…

… Only financial / material in nature?… A reflection of the quality of your professional (and personal) relationships?… Tied to how many credentials you’ve displayed on your wall or resume?… Shown in how well your business has survived or thrived since it was founded?… Something else?

Certainly, we won’t be able to unpack the term too deeply in this post, as entire books, webinars, conferences, & curricula have been dedicated to attempting to do the above. Yet, we can & will finish tying success & soft skills together, and show how education is the glue that bonds them both.

Education, from its Latin roots, means ‘to draw out from within’ or to ‘lead forth,’ so to be educated is to bring to the forefront what you already have to offer the world. There is also a clear insinuation to not only share your own gift set & skills, but also to lead others organically:

Yes, leadership is for all; all who are truly educated and willing to serve.

Can success be thought of as a gift?A strength?Fueled by undiscovered passion or purpose?All of these?

Remember what a soft skill is? Now, let’s ponder another question: Can they be learned, even if they weren’t ever taught in your schooling years?

The growth mindset (please studyCarol Dweck’s work for far more) teaches us that a skill should always be able to be polished, whether it is already a strength, or perhaps an area of improvement that can grow stronger over time.

Can success be learned as you engage in a self-directed education? Sure! Consider those potential definitions once again: Are any, some, or all of them able to be learned?

Passion + unbridled enthusiasm = leads to success!

Is success going to automatically result? Not necessarily, even when we’ve come to the above conclusion.Certain thought leaders have left as their legacy an equation either exactly like the below, or one that is somewhat similar:

(Hard work x smart work) / an adult time frame = success

Further, when you unravel the various inputs of work & also of time, including the impact of perseverance and patience, we find that both inputs in the equation are ‘soft’ skill driven!

Since we’ve now established that soft skills and success can both be learned, and a mindset is not fixed, we as entrepreneurs, owners, and self-employed professionals should rejoice greatly. This revelation confirms that our abilities to turn an idea, a passion, an experience, or perhaps even a business failure into something far greater than its component ‘parts’ is always a possibility.

This aforementioned possibility hinges on being willing to invest in yourself. Many entrepreneurs learn how to establish their businesses by learning about income statements, positive cash flow, the differences between hiring and outsourcing, etc. However, some don’t continuously feed their minds.

Are you willing to do the above? If you are, you will always have one person cheering you on.Best your way!

Entrepreneurship & education are inexorably intertwined; to nearly everyone, this statement would come across as opinion, rather than a fact of life. The true definition of education is where distinctions, divergence, and conversations will arise: Due to a century plus of ‘schooling’ in America, we’ve been left with at least a plurality, if not majority, that equates education with credentials only.

The best education to pursue, that ensures success, is tied to self-directed learning rather than seeking a degree, certification, or diploma.

We are in a new world of work: business, and the entrepreneurial spirit which drives it forward, moves quicker than ever before.Keeping up with the trends, curves, waves, & everything in between necessitates a burning desire, to coin Napoleon Hill, to be a lifelong student.

What phases will the broadly successful entrepreneur enter, then emerge from, while serving clients & customers?

Phase 1: The ‘mental’ game (mindset)

Answer: Six inches worth trillion(s) of dollars

The question: What are the dimensions of your brain as measured between both ears, both physically & monetarily?

While this is definitely a truism, why don’t many business owners feed their minds?Creating a lifelong learning environment, a culture, in an entrepreneurial venture is non-negotiable if you wish to sustain success, let alone become significant.

This becomes even more important if/when you hire staff; whether the person(s) are contractors, agents, temps, employees, or interns, being certain you, and they, are in the game mentally is a mark of a well-educated business owner. Please do not require a credential as a barrier of entry to neither hiring, nor promotions: This is not to say that paper-based credentials have no value in our present era, however, it does mean that you have decoupled education & paper, and understand that a candidate or an existing staffer can be equally valuable in your business.

Phase 2: Financial/fiscal & economic

Ownership & consumerism don’t mix; here’s another truism that many will embrace, whether you realize this at the onset of starting your business, during the year(s) you are entrepreneurial, or once you’ve exhausted your cash flow/working capital (let’s hope its not the last of the three!).

Put in a different context, encourage your staff to invest in their own minds, while concurrently doing the exact same thing as the founder/owner yourself.

This is a mark of organic leadership, versus being an average manager, or attempting to lead by title or position only. Some call this approach, “You, Inc.” while others cite Ben Franklin’s famous quote; whichever way you slice it, you have adopted this educational phase and are now all-in: Congratulations!

A dollar which purchases an ebook and the same dollar which partially pays for your lunch are definitely not the same. While very few would dispute this, the facts on the ground show otherwise: many businesses and the entrepreneurs who launched them often see a line item in their budget for professional development and sacrifice it in hard times, which is the exact opposite of what should be done.

Phase 3: Social & relational

Your business network is another form of capital: social capital, which is priceless currency in our present economic era (known as the Gig Economy/Conceptual Age).

Why? When you’re relational, you have embraced the endless value of serving your connections, whether they presently buy from you, may in the future, etc. You are exercising what Bob Burg calls the [Laws of] The Go-Giver, and several of the Laws of Lifetime Growth all at once!

There are several ‘chair’ legs that will sustain a business through its infancy, the ebbs, the flood tide (times of hopefully organized chaos!), & perhaps even through an IPO, a sale, or a hand-off from one generation to another.

One is clearly business networking.

Be certain, if you engage in this activity, to always (no excuses, please) follow up with those whom you meet, even if you don’t believe you can work together; it’s simply common courtesy.

A second is joining a referral-based group. These are ideal to generate momentum through the creation of relationships that earn you word-of-mouth business through your fellow members.

Summing up, please ensure that you have learned and exemplify the type of person you’d like to be your friend. Use soft skills to grow your level of awareness and consciousness in the marketplace: these are often not taught in any formal schooling, so pursue them with vigor by ensuring that phase one is maintained in your business at all times.

Education – ‘to draw out that which lies within.’

These three phases go a long way to put into action what education can & should be, versus how it may be commonly identified.

I wish you all the success & significance that you choose to earn through lifelong learning!

The American experiment in representative government, borne out of liberty fires set in the 1770s, organically led to the flowering of the entrepreneurial heritage that we enjoy today. Did we have business owners in the pre-Colonial era? Yes! Yet, it necessitated throwing off the yoke of British imperialism to ensure that the embers of those fires didn’t burn out.

As America grew geographically, leaders on the frontier ensured that a system of education was available to citizens who migrated west. The framework was decentralized, and, as in the case of the Northwest Ordinance, was based on a solid foundation of not requiring institutional support (“The states were to encourage education, but the Northwest Ordinance did not require states to provide public education”).

Later in the 1830s, in the magnum opus, “Democracy in America,” De Tocqueville opined:

“Americans are taught from birth that they must overcome life’s woes and impediments on their own. Social authority makes them mistrustful and anxious, and they rely upon its power only when they cannot do without it. This first becomes apparent in the schools, where children play by their own rules and punish infractions they define themselves.”

Yet history’s long tail shows us that latter generations enabled an opposite approach: a centralized system of ‘schooling’, imported from several nations steeped in the values of aristocratic Europe. By the sunset of the 1910s, it became the de facto means of ‘educating’ Americans nationwide.

Due to the habits & mindset that this latter approach emphasized, it’s clear that many Americans aren’t well prepared to be entrepreneurial as they exit K-12, colleges, or graduate programs. What implications does this have for American entrepreneurship in the years ahead?

Challenge #1:

The current education approach is very expensive, creating too much debt.The ROI of this conventional approach will continue to be questioned from all corners; many times, local citizens express doubt by voting down levies and bond issues; send their children to other schools (private, faith-based, etc.) rather than the public ones; or perhaps, they bypass it entirely, and home educate.

Further, remedial coursework is often necessary once some students pass from one track to the next, seeking additional credentials. This costs the institution money, which is passed on in the form of higher tuition & fees, thereby raising the price of the whole. And, many are rightfully concerned that the college/university track may be a future bubble.Lastly, if a graduate finds him/herself in debt, often, he/she doesn’t pursue a purpose-based path, which robs Americans of another possible future innovator, perhaps the founder of the next Uber, Tesla, etc.

Challenge #2:

This approach takes too long to complete: it’s time centric versus competency based.In the former approach, predominant until the 1870s, and overtaken ~40 years later, many citizens learned what was asked of them, known as competencies, not tied to ‘x’ number of years in a classroom. Rather, they finished their studies, and went off to run family businesses, plied a trade, or grew and sold their own food on a farm.

Compulsory schooling required a set number of years, a ‘conveyor belt’. Nowadays, America finds itself with a hybrid economy, a cross between a digital/internet age & the Conceptual Age/Gig Economy. Would we not have more entrepreneurs starting and sustaining new businesses if we again had an education system based on competency and not time?

Challenge #3:

Crucial business and/or life skills necessary to be successful in the 21st Century economy often aren’t taught.Please read this blog for a deeper dive; alongside those points, many entrepreneurs will share that they learned a lot of their skills and discovered their inner talents not while in the traditional tracks (inc. graduate programs in medicine, law, and management), but on their own or from a mentor/coach.

Our economy, buffeted daily by gale force winds of global change, would benefit greatly once we muster the courage, creativity, and humility to design a holistic approach that will:

Recoup millions of ineffective hours spent in classrooms where competencies have already been learned.

Open more doors for youth and disaffected adults to be entrepreneurs by lowering debt.

Provide a market-tested ‘basket’ of skills for students in their schooling that will help them effectively manage their personal lives, and, ideally, a business that provides them win:win income which solves societal challenges.

Who’s ready to respond to the clarion call for bottom up, educational and entrepreneurial transformation?

Whether or not you can yet detect the connectivity, see the pattern, … and how they intersect, they definitely do.

Allow me to sketch a picture for you. At the end, I trust that it will be clearer. And, as always, feedback is very much appreciated. Did you learn something new to apply to your business? Will you pursue additional research to dig into these topics? Are you inspired to make a bigger difference in ensuring prosperity and liberty for your staff, family, or friends?

As you may recall from my last post, I laid out what education should look like in the 2010s. Education, from its Latin roots, means ‘to draw out from within’ or to ‘lead forth’. Entrepreneurs often find that they have within them the gift set(s), the skills, the inner fire, and the heart of a champion; yet, many don’t immediately exercise one, some, or all of these right away, putting their economic and financial prosperity at stake. Why is this? The reasons could fill book after book …

One big one: they may not realize that their economic well-being is interwoven with their education. It is quite clear that without wonderful volunteers (who serve several excellent organizations whose mission entails teaching of outside programs which enhance the typical curriculum) entrepreneurship is not taught in K-12, nor is it in the vast majority of collegiate/university (‘higher’) educational institutions. So, the ability to ‘lead forth’ with an idea, a vision, a mission/co-mission is curtailed by the entrepreneur’s past experience in a classroom, most often without him/her even realizing it.

The next reason: A deep understanding of money, finances, and economics.

Each of these, in sum, is the answer to the oft-unasked question: Can I create my own personal economy? Must I depend on institutions (corporations, governmental bodies, or otherwise) to pay me to serve them? Or, must I have a resume with credentials and acronyms. Or, is my ‘resume’ the number, size, and scope of problems that I’ve solved? The number of people whom I’ve served, and served well enough to earn their trust and recurring revenue?

Economics, unlike some who have described it as the ‘dismal science’, truly isn’t. And, contrary to the constant drumbeat of ‘experts’ who populate our mass media channels, money and financial literacy/wisdom aren’t complicated when we understand that ‘clarity attracts’.So, let’s simplify things: Money is a receipt on service rendered; additionally, it is a vehicle that produces memories. And, entrepreneurs throughout history have always stepped up to provide services, many of whom putting a deep imprint on the age in which they lived by leaving a legacy: Eastman with his camera; Edison with his light bulb; Gates with his software; Dell with his made to order PCs; Musk, with his snazzy Tesla vehicles … the list goes on.

Entrepreneurship is sprouted, like the flowers about to bloom all around us, from the potted soil of a broad based education and its fertilizer: a clear understanding of economics. As the author of this article so adroitly shares, oft-times, Americans who haven’t had the benefit of a solid grounding in either of the above, are their own biggest obstacles (“we have met the enemy, and he/she is us.”)

Even for the many readers of this blog who already own a business and are very entrepreneurial, are we all paying forward what we know by being mentors? Advisors? Coaches? There are so many different ways to ensure that the next generation(s) has just as much of a bottom-up opportunity to earn the same level of prosperity and maintain the liberty passed to us like a baton by previous generations who knew what it was to be uniquely ‘American.’ Be an owner – someone who had something of value and contributed to society by offering a product, a service, and/or specialized knowledge to a willing party(ies) in a free enterprise transaction.

History’s broad brush strokes have painted a Rembrandt: it is clear from the records left behind by our ancestors that high levels of entrepreneurial activity/success, a deeply educated citizenry, and a strong understanding of economics work interdependently to lock in levels of prosperity and liberty which would normally not exist.

For the record, elections do matter. Yet, this “E” does not rise to the level of the other three.

Rather than put the emphasis on a president, a senator, a representative in Congress, or the Statehouse, let’s focus on how we can grow our knowledge of the 3 E’s organically. Therefore, the burden of ensuring that prosperity and liberty are always available rests with us as American citizens; we who have put human, social, and financial capital on the line to serve the public through our respective businesses.

Business & Entrepreneurial Success in the 2010s:How Should Education Be Defined?

Many an article and blog post, set adrift amongst the ocean of information that we all swim in every day of our lives, have previously raised crucial questions, such as these:

Why aren’t there more entrepreneurs?

Why do entrepreneurs and businesses in general struggle ofttimes to find the best candidates for open positions?

Why do so many businesses fail in the first one, three, and five years of their existence?

My answers to the above questions require the Socratic Method: answering a question(s) with another question(s).

Are education and school the same thing, or are they quite (possibly / likely) different?

Regardless of your answer to the above, let’s take a brief tour through the pathways and attempt to define what education should be in the 2010s, and how you, as a business owner, entrepreneur, and/or start up, can grow and learn more to the betterment of yourself, your company, your community, and your nation at large.

Pathways

What was one of the most oft-asked questions as you were in your teenage years? And, with a twist, what is one of the most common questions at a business networking event? If you said either, or both, of these, you win: ‘What do you want to do?’ ‘What do you do?’These are the product, the end result, of an approach to education that is very common if you’ve ever been in a traditional public school/college/university classroom, working in a corporation as an employee, or in the public service sector (government, nonprofit, and/or politics). It also explains why there aren’t more entrepreneurs, why those who are already in business experience challenges to find candidates, and even why many businesses fail far too soon. We have neglected to focus on the crucial question, ‘Why?’, and the creativity, innovation, vision, and curiosity seeds are not watered, thereby leaving the green fields of entrepreneurship lacking in both quantity, as well as quality.

Think of it this way, too: Are the above traits not all imperative to entrepreneurial success, whether you’re a startup venture with a big dream? An established company seeking new markets? A solopreneur who wants to hire new interns/agents/employees so you can work “on” and not “in” your business? Please see the attached .pdf for more.

Defining Education in the 2010s

As we approach a new year, we will again be tasked to plan, take action (do), check (progress), and adjust (make tactical changes) in our entrepreneurial ventures/startups, existing businesses, and with our B2B clients. Allow me to define education so it can morph and be readily adaptable to your unique markets, challenges, obstacles, and vision for the future.Education in our ever-changing modern world should:

Encourage us ‘how’ to think, and not ‘what’ to think

Be Holistic, connecting various disciplines together

Highlight innovative models and creative approaches

Teach soft skills that build social capital and how to create leaders

Focus on informing us how to make a difference: leveraging our business skills to create and build; not to live to work.

You may be applauding as you read the above; or, on the other hand, you may be perplexed, having never considered any of these before reading this post. Regardless of your response, reason your way through the root cause why you may have had such feedback. Think of a fish in water: Does the fish really know any other environment?

It’s quite likely that the pathway(s) you took leading up to the present day honed in on the ‘what’ heavily, leaving the ‘why’, and perhaps even the ‘how’ question(s) with very little oxygen. Here and here alone you will find the rocks upon which many an entrepreneur/business owner have crashed, been moored, or lost time and money on his/her journey.

In sum, does the ‘what’ over ‘why’ question connect you with your distant past? Perhaps instead, it triggers a memory of an experience you had in a classroom or conversation more recently? Or, even of educational option(s) which you may wish to pay for in 2016?

My hope is that the answer(s) to one, two, or all of these questions is ‘yes’. If not, I implore you to dive in deeper to the educational ‘pool’, and ask yourself once again, ‘Are education and school the same thing, or are they different?’

What is [an] ‘uber’? Would you have asked this question even five years ago? Think about it. Don’t be shy or think we’ll judge you if you say ‘yes’ …

Presently, Uber is such a part of the fabric of our nation, especially if you live in a metro area, it’s now being used as a verb!

Further, we are even to the point of using it as an adjective. “Uberization” is now quickly becoming shorthand for disruptive businesses, their service models, and/or creative approaches to challenge old/mainline industries which are most always launched by entrepreneurs.In this post, we’ll focus strictly on education, and the impact that will ripple into business as a whole, and most especially, the arena of entrepreneurship.

First, we’ll embark on a quick tour through history …

Our current educational system can be divided into five separate tracks:

Pre-school/Pre-K

K-12

Collegiate/university (undergrad)

Graduate programs

Doctoral & postdoctoral studies (PhD)

The largest majorities of Americans complete the K-12 years. This track, in its present form, grew out of a combination of the agricultural and (blue collar) Industrial Age, first seen in the 1850s, spreading further by the 1870s (its core decade), and becoming almost ubiquitous by the 1910s.

Undergrad college/university’s current structure can be traced back to the post WWII years: the G.I. Bill’s passage, and the book, “The Organization Man”, each serve as lines in the sands of time for when these years became the baseline expectation for higher percentages of our nation’s citizens.

As the sands trickled through the hourglass, into the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and into the ’80s, America quietly entered the Corporate Industrial Age. This era is best known for the rise of the resume, the growth and increasing size of corporations, and the introduction of benefits alongside wage/salary compensation.

In the latter half of the ’80s, and early to mid ’90s, though, early signs of cracks in the foundation of both the K-12 and the university tracks became visible. Entrepreneurs and educational innovators (sometimes one in the same), realized this, and began to create and promote parallel options, such as charter/community schools, and home school curricula.

Americans then were shocked as ever more massive changes shook traditional education to its core as we moved into the new century:

Y2K/War on Terror

Bursting of the dot-com bubble

What some call the ‘Great Recession’

This question lingers through: Why haven’t more businesses and individual entrepreneurs realized the above and adjusted? Where was the ‘uberization’?

Actually, this disruption was ongoing, just below the radar of over 90 percent of the population. The diffusion of innovation curve kicked in, and the innovators, visionaries, and early adopters, built upon the foundation of their predecessors in the ’80s and ’90s.What did they do? They began to roll out additional parallel options to both tracks in larger numbers, while harnessing the almost limitless power of the Internet to spread their ‘gospel’ through word of mouth as they built networks and communities.

We now have clear market signals of a competitive landscape emerging. As business owners/entrepreneurs, we are used to this reality, whether we offer a product(s), service(s), and/or specialized knowledge in the marketplace.

Uber, as history books yet to be written will explain to our grandkids, isn’t all that popular in some circles. However, it is the market that will be the ultimate arbiter of this Gig (sharing/P2P) economy innovator. For instance, have you used Uber? What about UberEats, its brand extension? If you gave it four to five stars, I bet you shared your experience on social media, right?

In the educational space, look to companies like Udemy, Ed2Go, Lynda.com, Udacity, and UnCollege, to continue to grow and prosper as more Americans not only awaken to these seismic changes, but also choose to pursue entrepreneurship in larger numbers.‘Uberization’ is definitely not a ‘bad’ thing; if it were, its historical precedents, such as the printing press, the cotton gin, the assembly line, the PC, and the Internet itself, would not have thrived through past generations, as each has.

The question that I’ll leave you with:

Are you willing to explore ALL available options so the ‘uberization’ of education spreads further, faster?

Impact Squared:Introducing Soft Skills Development to the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Bite sized nuggets of wisdom, over an adult time frame = education that IMPACTS.

Oft-times, we come to ‘forks’ in the road in our professional lives, whether we are entrepreneurs with a startup or two under our belt(s), a mid sized business owner with more ‘seasoning’, a freelancer/independent contractor, or more than one of these.

One of these forks, as I see it? Putting as much, if not MORE, focus, on soft skills as an investment in ourselves and/or in our staff.

What, one might ask, exactly are ‘soft skills’? A fine question. And, unsurprisingly to this blogger, there are multiple/varied answers. The latter doesn’t change the core conclusions that this post is meant to spotlight; yet, it does lead me to share, from an educational advisor/consultant’s perspective, what they are, and/or should be.Soft skills (def’n): ‘Learned traits gleaned from most usually, a self-directed education, which, when studied over a time frame of at least a year, become ingrained in the mindset and thinking of a person, impacting his/her actions and habits, and thereby becoming strength based skills.’

Many of these examples may resonate with you: Attitude; conflict resolution; character (integrity x courage); goal setting; social capital (width and depth of relationships of all kinds); adversity quotient, and trust (character x competence).Back tracing throughout our nation’s rich history of entrepreneurial leadership and development, we find various thought leaders who realized how priceless these skills were, and strived to pay them forward through teaching, speaking, writing, or other mediums of communication. For instance, one of the first/early generation stewards who stepped forward? None other than Napoleon Hill.

His magnum opus, ‘Think and Grow Rich’, was published in 1937. Yet, nearly eighty years later, how many businessmen and businesswomen are applying them day-to-day, for at least a year, in their respective entrepreneurial endeavors?

So many others could be cited; how about one more? John C. Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell has in many measures, revolutionized our world, through his many soft skill centric gifts; in others, his output numbering in the hundreds, including books, speeches, videos, and other content has been evolutionary, building upon the shoulders of giants such as Hill, Carnegie, Nightingale, Greenleaf, and Rohn.

A key takeaway that I heartily encourage the reader to act upon is to review the .pdf which was hyperlinked into the book title, and ask yourself as you read it: How many of the 21 have their roots tied into a soft skill, utilizing my definition, and/or another that you find in your own research?

How can soft skills development be implemented? It is rather straightforward, yet not without the need to exercise humility, hone ability, and, to paraphrase Alvin Toffler in ‘Future Shock’, some ‘unlearning’ of what the majority of us were taught in our schooling years.

First: Educate yourself what soft skills are, both in a historical context and our present-day world.

Second: Understand that soft skills cannot be easily, nor should they be, “credentialized.” Encourage the learning process to be organic, and don’t forget to tie into economic conditions, both within your business (micro) and also on state, national, and global planes (macro). Education need not equal a credential to be recognized as impactful to your staff or to you.

Third: Ensure that your business budget always has a line item for ongoing development. Soft skills need not ‘cost’ that much, yet the ‘price’ of NOT recognizing their inherent value could be very high.

Fourth: Pursue options in the marketplace which deliver soft skills to your office, whether it’s at home, an incubator/center like Innovate New Albany, or your local coffee shop via your smartphone or tablet.

Lastly: Be the steward who willingly pays forward this kind of approach to 21st century entrepreneurship to other owners, creatives, and innovators. Thought leaders and true servants are always in demand, as their supply is most often choked off by hubris (“expert” state v. acting as a mentor), excessive focus on credentials (“you don’t have ‘____’ after your name? You’re not worthy of my time.”), or a lack of time management (“I’m ‘busy’, and cannot invest in you.”)

Thank you and may your business growth be sized in proportion with your understanding of success laws and principles left behind from the giants in the professional development field.

Author, SJ Barakony. Who is SJ?

SJ is a CMA (Consultant, Mentor, & Advisor), as well as the founder of SBSL, an Educational Solutions Provider.

His business model includes designing &/or implementing customizable solutions for business owners to address three deep, fundamental problems with the traditional approach to the K-12, college/university, & also graduate tracks of education in America.

He serves his alma mater, Ohio Wesleyan (OWU) on the Central Ohio Alumni Leadership Board & is also a member of a non profit board (ChefVet).

His favorite pastimes are traveling; reading; listening & watching inspirational content; connecting people who may not otherwise have met in the course of time; and being a futurist/visionary when it comes to organically transforming the education system for the Gig Economy age/era in which we now find ourselves.

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